Friday, September 12, 2014

The Port of Seattle will receive $20 million from the US
Department of Transportation as part of the Transportation Investment
Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant program, Sen. Patty Murray revealed
Sept. 9.

This investment will go toward modernizing the port’s
Terminal 46, a container terminal that serves as a critical export hub and
economic engine in Washington State.

“This investment will provide a major boost to the Port’s
efforts to lay down a strong foundation for long-term economic growth and job
creation throughout the region, which is exactly what I created these TIGER
grants to accomplish,” Murray said. “Modernizing Terminal 46 will protect and
leverage the investments we’ve made at the Port of Seattle and will help
Washington State maintain its cargo leadership for decades to come.”

The TIGER Grant Program was created by Murray in 2009 to
provide competitively awarded grants through the US Department of
Transportation to transportation projects throughout the country that support
economic growth and employ local workers.

The Murray-authored program had provided about $3.5 billion
in job-creating transportation projects in every corner of the country before
this latest round of investments, which includes $600 million more in critical
projects.

Components of the Terminal 46 project include dock
rehabilitation, paving, crude rail extension, road improvements and public
shoreline access development. Investments are being made at T46 by the port to
address maintenance issues that threaten the reliability, cost-effectiveness
and efficiency of the trade corridor and to compete with upgrades at Canadian
ports.

Maintenance conducted during the project are expected to
extend the service life of T46 by 25 to 30 years and make enhancements enabling
the terminal to service two super post-Panamax vessels simultaneously.

The CMA CGM Group, the world’s third largest container
shipping company, announced Sept. 8 the signing of three major agreements with
United Arab Shipping Corp. (UASC) and China Shipping Container Line (CSCL).

The agreements combine vessel sharing, slot charter and slot
exchange, plus build upon an existing plan by UASC and CSCL to cooperate on an
18,000 TEU vessel trade agreement. The agreements, completed under the
collective name of Ocean Three, cover Transpacific, Asia-United States East
Coast, Asia-Europe and Asia-Mediterranean maritime trade routes.

The Transpacific trade is to consist of four weekly services
to California and one service to the Pacific Northwest, while the Asia-US East
Coast trade will consist of service via the Suez Canal and one service
dedicated to the Gulf of Mexico.

The Asia-Europe trade is to consist of four weekly services
added with two existing services, thereby offering six departures per week. The
Asia-Mediterranean trade is to consist of four weekly services: two to the
Mediterranean, one to the Adriatic and one to the Black Sea.

The agreements on Transatlantic trade are being finalized
and will be announced at a later date, according to CMA CGM.

“This will allow us to propose to our clients a high quality
and reliable alternative to existing services on the market,” CMA CGM Vice
Chair Rodolphe Saadé said.

These agreements are pending authorization from the US
Federal Maritime Commission.

Port Metro Vancouver on Sept. 9 unveiled two new patrol
vessels, as well as other operations and security assets, expected to help
maintain the safe, secure, efficient and reliable movement of marine traffic
and cargo within Port Metro Vancouver’s jurisdiction.

The vessels, built by Campbell River’s Daigle Welding &
Marine, are to provide marine surveillance, early incident detection and
activity tracking. The new “response class” vessels specialize in fast
response, and are equipped for rapid situational assessment. They each have
1,000 horsepower supplied by twin Volvo D9-500 diesel engines with ZF 265 IV
transmissions.

Both vessels have an overall length of about 43 feet and
weigh about 15 tons.

The latest additions complement Port Metro Vancouver’s
operations center, which uses a variety of security and situational awareness
technologies such as live camera feeds, controlled access gates and GPS
tracking on all port-authorized container trucks.

“We are bolstering our presence on land and water,” Peter
Xotta, Vice President of Operations and Planning at Port Metro Vancouver, said.
“This helps ensure our operations and security teams are equipped with the most
appropriate tools.”

Port Metro Vancouver, working with first responders, the local
community and port stakeholders, including municipalities, regional emergency
response organizations, police forces and federal agencies, maintains
situational awareness and has a coordinating role within its jurisdiction of about
400 miles of shoreline. Responsibilities include marine patrols, ship
inspections, permitting of operational activities and the development of marine
safety rules and procedures.

Two months after saying negotiations with a Texas company
that wants to build a propane and butane export terminal at the port have gone poorly,
Port of Longview officials are saying that progress has been made.

On Sept. 9, port CEO Geir-Eilif Kalhagen told port
commissioners that negotiations with Haven Energy progressed significantly last
week. The port has closed “a lot of the gaps” in negotiations with Haven for
lease of port property and dock use, Kalhagen said.

It was a marked contrast from Kalhagen’s July 8 comments to
the port board, when he said he was disappointed with the talks so far with
Haven, a subsidiary of Houston-based natural gas-related infrastructure company
Sage Midstream. Kalhagen said at the time that Haven didn’t understand
Washington environmental regulations or pricing structures.

Haven is proposing an export facility to move propane and
butane, currently being flared in the Midwest, to energy markets around the
Pacific Rim. The company is considering building a unit train-accessible rail
unloading facility, storage tanks and ship loading area at the port with the
capability to load marine vessels with up to an about capacity of 550,000
barrels.

The company’s proposal calls for the cargo to be railed to
the port from the North Dakota and South Dakota, then refrigerated and stored
on site at Longview before being loaded to vessels for export to Hawaii, Mexico
and Asia.

In April, the company entered into a one-year option
agreement with the port to evaluate the project.

Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Last week a subscriber who is a longshoreman at the Port of
Los Angeles alerted us to a 9,000-TEU container carrier that was “yellow
flagged” because of a gypsy moth infestation discovered by US Customs and
Border Protection agents. Not to worry – the ship was quarantined and
fumigated, and subsequently released.

The idea of quarantine for a pestilent vessel makes sense,
and these cases are handled in a routine manner, on a fairly regular basis, and
sent on their way.

Of more concern would be the case of a vessel arriving with a
crewmember (or members) suffering from a communicable disease. Rest assured –
in this instance, the local branch of the Atlanta, Georgia-based Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) would be the entity tasked with addressing
the issue.

A media spokesperson for the CDC provided us with the
procedure following the case of a cargo ship that arrives with an onboard death
or illness:

Federal Regulations require the master of a ship destined for
a US port of entry to immediately report any death or illness among the ship’s
passengers or crew, including those who have disembarked or have been removed
from the ship due to illness or death. Reports must also (immediately) be made
to the nearest CDC Quarantine Station.

Required reporting includes persons displaying signs or
symptoms of a fever of greater than 100 degrees lasting more than 48 hours or
any fever accompanied by a rash, swelling of the lymph glands or jaundice.
Certain cases of diarrhea are also reportable, and cruise ships reporting more
than 13 diarrhea cases do so to the CDC Vessel Sanitation Program.

For passengers and crew, the CDC has a fairly straightforward
procedure, but what is the procedure for an unexpected traveler, or stowaway?

The US Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) have no
hard numbers for people who enter the country as stowaways, but have no fear-
the regulations are clear-cut:

If caught while aboard ship, a stowaway must be kept locked
up, treated in a humane manner, and turned over to the INS, who then fine the
ship and repatriate the stowaways to their country of origin, along with an
escort, at the vessel’s expense. The cost to vessel and crew is pretty good
incentive to encourage operators to do their best to ensure that no one manages
to stow away.

Even though thousands of stowaways are discovered every year,
many probably aren’t.

Last month a group of 35 men, women and children were found
inside a shipping container in the UK. They were discovered because one of
their number had died, and the remaining “passengers” we’re screaming for help.
Although the group was from Afghanistan, the West African ports of Lagos,
Nigeria and Abidjan, Ivory Coast are the leading ports of embarkation for
stowaways. They’re also “ground zero” for the Ebola virus. Recent container
stowaway discoveries include 12 people traveling from Ghana and Nigeria to
Spain.

With the current outbreak of a particularly virulent and
deadly virus in West Africa raging inside or adjacent to the two countries with
the highest number of stowaways, how is the US protecting itself from this very
real threat?

Another CDC spokesperson told us there are currently no
enhanced efforts to screen or address migrants who arrive in the US in a mode
other than airline travel. When asked what the commercial maritime industry
could do to safeguard against the possibility of sick stowaways, her response
was, “I don’t know.” We’re not reassured.

Hurricane Marie, which caused 10-to 15-foot high wave surges
in Southern California in late August, also resulted in three breaches in the
breakwater that protects the Port of Long Beach, the Army Corps of Engineers
confirmed Sept. 4.

About 200 hundred tons of rocks from the so-called Middle
Breakwater were displaced during the storm, and the breeches could grow even
larger as additional waves strike and erode the areas, according to the Army
Corps.

“The next step is to develop a plan to repair the damage,
which ranges from breach to significant damage to moderate damage to minor
damage,” Corps of Engineers spokesman Greg Fuderer said.

Hurricane Marie grew into a large and powerful Category 5
storm and moved west-northwestward off the Pacific Coast of Mexico in late
August, causing dangerous conditions from the Baja California Peninsula up
through Southern California.

The two-mile long Middle Breakwater, which was completed in
1949, was built to protect the US Pacific Fleet and now shields ships entering
the Port of Long Beach from large waves.

Hurricane Marie’s 10-15 foot waves resulted in the
suspension of vessel operations at two Port of Long Beach marine terminals Aug.
27 after longshore workers were endangered by the surges.

Total Terminals International on Pier T, with two
Mediterranean Shipping Co. container ships at berth, and Crescent Terminals on
Pier F, with two break-bulk ships including an MOL roll-on/roll-off vessel at
berth, were the terminals that temporarily halted work as a result of the
waves.

Port of Vancouver USA CEO Todd Coleman traveled to Fargo,
North Dakota Aug. 27 to sign a contract with that state’s agriculture commissioner
that allows the port to provide dedicated rail service to move North Dakota
agricultural products west in would-be empty railcars returning from eastbound
shipments.

“The Port of Vancouver will lease blocks of railcars to move
products,” Coleman explained. “This means more cars are available, reliability
is increased and North Dakota farmers remain competitive in the global market.”

Cargoes are already moving by rail East from the Pacific
Northwest, but those railcars often return West without cargo. The new rail
service attempts to introduce more control and efficiency into the process by
allowing the port to lease railcars to carry those eastbound cargoes.

Once the eastbound cargoes have been delivered, the port and
its logistics partners will fill cars with agricultural products for the return
trip to Vancouver.

The port’s responsibilities under the contract include
designating load centers, managing railcars and providing monthly service
reports.

“We’re looking at moving the first full railcars back to
Vancouver as early as mid-September,” Coleman said.

The port is working with BNSF Railway to provide the service
and eventually expand to unit trains if demand grows.

Bulk agricultural products are one of the port’s key service
areas, and grain is its top export by weight. Nearly 1.4 million tons of wheat
moved through the port on its way to markets in the Pacific Rim during the
first half of 2014.

The Port of Los Angeles has received a $469,000 grant award
from the US Environmental Protection Agency to retrofit cargo handling
equipment. The port secured the grant on behalf of two terminal tenants – SA
Recycling and APM Terminals.

The port will administer the grant funds for the project,
which involves retrofitting 14 pieces of cargo handling equipment with diesel
particulate filters.

The retrofit is expected to result in a reduction in particulate
matter emissions by 85 percent and carbon monoxide and hydrocarbon emissions by
90 percent. Retrofitted equipment is to include a top handler, material
handlers, loaders, haul trucks and a bulldozer. The project is expected to be
completed by December 2015.

Although the port will oversee the grant project, SA
Recycling and APM Terminals own the cargo handling equipment and will conduct
the retrofits.

The grant is funded through the EPA’s Diesel Emissions
Reduction Act (DERA) program. The Port of LA was one of six ports nationwide to
receive EPA funds as part of the DERA grants program, which focuses on
retrofitting, replacing or repowering diesel engines to reduce harmful
emissions.

SA Recycling, a metal recycler, has had operations at the
Port of Los Angeles since 1962 and also operates over 50 recycling facilities
throughout California, Texas, Arizona and Nevada.

APM Terminals, which operates a 400-acre container terminal
at the Port of Los Angeles, has business interests in 70 port and terminal
facilities globally.

The Long Beach City Council voted unanimously on Sept. 2 to
approve an $858 million budget for the Port of Long Beach for the upcoming
fiscal year. Two-thirds of the spending is earmarked for a building and
modernization program.

The budget was first approved by the port’s Board of
Directors in July, but consent from the City Council was required for it to
become official.

For the fiscal year starting Oct. 1, 2014, the Port of Long Beach
plans to spend $579 million on capital projects as part of an ongoing,
decade-long, $4 billion investment in upgrades and efficiency improvements.

“To remain competitive, the port needs to continually
reinvest in major facilities upgrades,” POLB Chief Executive Jon Slangerup told
the City Council just before its vote.

The budget projects operating revenue of $346.8 million in
the coming year, on par with revenues in the current fiscal year. The approved
budget also adds 28 new full-time positions, including 20 in the engineering department
to support ongoing capital improvements, and six to enhance port security
operations. The budget also includes funding of more than $30 million for
environmental programs and projects, such as technology-advancement
demonstrations of a barge-based pollution-control system for ships at berth and
an electric highway truck system.

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EDITORIAL

Pacific Maritime Magazine California Contributing Editor Karen Robes Meeks spent several years covering the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, California for the Long Beach Press-Telegram and our sister publication Fishermen’s News.